About Me

is an Educational Anarchist who has been a geologist, biologist, teacher, and now lives the quiet life on a ranch in New Mexico with her husband, the Engineering Geek. A Libertarian, Educational Anarchist and gadfly, Elisheva writes about anything that catches her fancy, and then returns to the quiet life in which she is finishing a doctorate about resistance in/to educational orthodoxy. She is the mother of two grown children, and takes great pride in their independence an successes, and is entirely smitten by her new granddaughter.

Favorite Books about Gifted/Twice-Exceptional Kids

Barefoot Irreverence: A Collection of Writings on Gifted Child Education by Jim Delisle

Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome: A User's Guide to Adolescence by Luke Jackson

In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People with Dyslexia and Other Learning Difficulties, Computer Images and the Ironies of Creativity by Thomas G. West

Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind by Deborah l. Ruf

Misdiagnosis and Duel Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults by Webb, et. al.

Once Upon a Mind: The Stories and Scholars of Gifted Child Education by Jim Delisle

Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Pre-school to High School by Judith Wynn Halstead

Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes

The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child by Thomas Hartmann

The Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide for Liberating Everyday Genius by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen

The Oasis Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Advice, Support, Insight and Inspiration by Bashe and Kirby

Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports of My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin

Ragamuffin Studies has been nominated in Alesandra's Homeschool Blog Awards

Ragamuffin Studies was nominated in Alesandra's HBA contest...

...and in the HSBA in the "Live What You Believe" Category.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Summer Travels with Flat Ryan

Yesterday, the Engineering Geek and I--and Flat Ryan-- got up at dark o'clock in the morning so that we could be on the road at the crack of dawn. We needed to be north of Capitan, NM by 9 AM for the Western Rally for the Constitution, which was put together very quickly at the behest of people from the Western US who did not want to travel to Guilford Courthouse National Park in Greensboro, NC. The New Mexico Rally was to have been at the Fort Stanton State Monument, but the state government wanted much paperwork and would only give the go-ahead a few days ahead of the event, so it was held on private land north of Capitan, in the Lincoln National Forest--which is Smokey the Bear Country. The EG and I, along with several others from NMPA, attended the all-day armed rally in order to represent our organization and to hear speakers that included constitutional sheriffs, former Congressman Steve Pierce, and others discuss Article I Sections 8-9 of the Constitution, and the current government's gross overstepping of bounds, and possible solutions including the Patrick Henry Caucus leader's concept of returning control to the states.Here are pictures on the way down and at the rally:

We started in the dark, but shortly after sunrise, we were on NM 41 heading from Willard to Corona. Here we are very near the gEOGRAPHIC Center of New Mexico, though we didn't stop at the ranch that holds the marker. Heading east, we can see the northeastern corner of Chupadera mesa to the right, and the Gallinas Mts. to the left.

This is a one of the famous New Mexico roadside tables that marked the lonely state and US highways long before interstate rest areas became fancy. This one was build by the CCC during the depression, and you can see the trademark stone steps in the forground. The way to the bathroom at these roadside tables was a set of steps over the barbed wire fence, leading to the nearest cover.

The old trading post and drugstore in Corona, New Mexico, just inside Lincoln County, at the intersection of New Mexico 41 and US 54. Located in the beautiful setting, Corona is the gateway to Billy the Kid country, but a sleepy little town miles from nowhere none-the-less.

Looking west toward the Gallinas Mts. that NM 41 brought us across, you'd never know that anything was once here, but . . .This is the location of the old Greathouse Stage Station and Tavern, where in November 1880, Billy the Kid and two companions were surrounded by a Sheriff's Posse. In an attempt to arrange the famouse outlaw's surrender, Sheriff Deputy James Carlisle was accidently shot and killed. William "Billy the Kid" Bonney escaped unharmed.

At the Rally for the Constitution, Bob Wright, Patriot, exhorts the crowd on the meaning of a constitutional state militia, while a very good country dance band waits to play a number behind.

In the background to the east are the Capitan Mts., although Capitan itself is to the southwest of this location.

The Rally was interesting, and fomer congressman Steve Pierce seems to have become less conservative and more libertarian/ constitutionalist since his defeat last election. He is running again this election, and was the only national level candidate from New Mexico to speak. Our ranch is located in the same district, so we will have to decide whether to vote for him. It's more promising than it was in 2008 when he ran for Heather Wilson's Senate seat.

Most of the speakers didn't say a whole lot new, but a radio guy from Oregon, who was live-streaming the event on the internet, was one of the first people I have heard in the broad patriot movement get up and discuss the real issue in big-picture terms: Collectivism vs. Individualism, he announced, and proceeded to describe what that means for us philosophically and practically.

And although a spattering of rain did send away some of the New Mexicans who had gathered, the rest of us rather enjoyed the cooling effect of the afternoon monsoon rain.

2 comments:

Briana, according to the guys counting at the entrance--you had to pull up, sign in, and since it was an open-carry event, listen to the safety shpiel--there were 320. Some of us weren't carrying though, so there were a few more. For example, the women from NMPA were not armed except for one.

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